Council votes to post ethics investigation report
KALKASKA – The Kalkaska Village Council isn’t hiding behind closed doors, or legal technicalities like attorney-client privilege.
Nope. Instead, council members voted for transparency, rather than secrecy.
The council voted unanimously, 5-0, with two members absent, at its regular monthly meeting Monday, Sept. 10, to release the results of an ethics investigation that was initiated by another council vote in April.
The report, titled the “Millar Report,” is the result of a five-page letter by treasurer Jennifer Standerfer that was presented to the village council in January that accused former Village President Jeff Sieting, current Village Manager Scott Yost and former Lt. Glenn Artress of the Kalkaska Department of Public Safety of various ethics violations.
Harley Wales, who succeeded Sieting as village president after a recall election in May, said village officials had received the report, named after the attorney at the Traverse City law firm of Swogger, Bruce & Millar that authored it, about six weeks ago.
He added that the vote was needed to forgo the protections provided by attorney-client privilege and allow Village Clerk Angie Koon to post the document on the village’s website: kalkaskavillage.com.
“Once it’s posted, anyone can talk about it,” Wales said. “You won’t have to FOIA anything. You can go online and print off as many copies as you want.”
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